Evaluation of the correlation and reproducibility between histamine, IL-4, and IL-13 release from human basophils.

Human  basophils play a key role in allergic diseases such as asthma and in a variety of  immunological disorders.  The  generation  of  IL-4  and  IL-13  can  be  induced  from basophil  by  IgE-mediated   and   non-IgE-mediated   mechanisms.  Time   and   stimulus- dependent  differences  in  the  regulation  of  these  cytokines  could  have  relevance  to their biological effects. The aim of the present study was activation of basophils in order to evaluate the extent of histamine, IL-4, and IL-13 generations. Basophil-enriched suspensions were prepared by Percoll gradients. The release of histamine and cytokines was assessed after activation with either anti-human IgE (1/1000 or1/10000, 4 h or 24 h) or IL-3 (100 ng/ ml, 24 h). Results were analysed statistically, using ANOVA test. Using  anti-IgE,  there  was  no  significant correlation  between  the  extent  of  either IL-4  (r=0.24,  p=0.35)  or  IL-13  (r=0.47,  p=0.098)  and  histamine  release. Using  IL-3 as stimulator, results showed that the extent of IL-13 correlated with histamine release(r=0.44,  p=0.036).  There  was  no  correlation  between  the  extent  of  IL-4  and the   degree   of   either   histamine   (r=0.077,   p=0.72)   or    IL-13   (r=0.162,   p=0.5). The  reproducibility of  cytokines isolated from  the  same donor  (on different occasions) indicated that the ability of anti-IgE to induce cytokines was consistently similar for a given donor. Our data showed that the pathways leading to IL-3-triggering histamine release and IL-13 generation show similarity. Donor-dependent  differences may be responsible for this wide range in the extent of releasibility. The ability of IL-3 to release cytokines from basophils showed a wider range.